First Emirati Raku artist Huda Alrais transformed a deeply challenging cancer journey into an extraordinary relationship with clay, fire and Raku art, using creativity to rediscover strength and bring a distinctive ceramic practice to the UAE.
DUBAI: There are moments when Huda Alrais speaks about clay as though she is describing an old friend. Not simply a material or profession, but a companion that entered her life when she needed one most.
Huda describes herself as the first Emirati Raku artist, but her journey into this dramatic world of clay, smoke and fire began during one of the most difficult periods of her life.
Diagnosed with cancer in 2015, Huda underwent a long course of treatment that included chemotherapy and radiation. The illness and treatment affected her physically and mentally. Her muscles weakened; she struggled to move without support, and she says her memory was also affected.
Then came clay.
Ceramics had long been on her childhood “bucket list”. Growing up, Huda loved working with her hands. She drew, wrote poetry, stitched and cooked. Her family encouraged independence, and she remembers learning to sew her own clothes and cook for large groups while still young.
Faced with serious illness, those unfulfilled childhood dreams suddenly mattered differently. “I was thinking, what if I died and I didn’t fulfil any of my dreams, which are on the bucket list,” she recalled.
Clay was near the top. While she was still undergoing treatment, Huda found someone to teach her ceramics. Working with clay gave her mind somewhere else to go. As her hands pushed, pulled and reshaped the material, she felt she was gradually reshaping herself too. “It taught me how to reshape myself,” Huda said.
While working with clay, she could temporarily isolate herself from pain and negative thoughts. Instead, her mind became occupied with shapes, textures, curves and the challenge of turning an idea into something physical.
Eventually, she says, clay became her “best friend”.
From cancer recovery to Raku
Recovery did not end Huda’s relationship with ceramics. Instead, it made her want to take the art further. She has now worked with ceramics for around a decade. As her experience grew, so did her determination to explore what else clay could become.
“I don’t want to leave it like this. It helped me, so I want people to see it in the best shape,” she recalled thinking. That determination eventually took Huda to Italy in 2023 and 2024, where she studied Raku techniques over two years.
Raku involves dramatic changes in temperature and post-firing processes in which fire, smoke and combustible materials can create distinctive and often unpredictable surfaces.
Huda says specialist Raku training was not available to her in the Arab world, so she travelled to Italy to learn different techniques before returning to the UAE. For her, becoming the first Emirati Raku artist was also about demonstrating what Emirati women can achieve. “We have to be, as UAE females, number one,” she said.
But bringing Raku home was not simply about mastering a foreign technique. Huda wanted to connect what she had learnt with the skills, materials and memories of earlier Emirati generations.
Where fire meets nature
Huda’s ceramic pieces are unusual because nature does not simply inspire them. Nature actively participates in creating them. She experiments with fruit and vegetable peel, seaweed, sugar, coffee, horsehair, human hair and feathers. Fire, smoke and extreme heat transform these materials, leaving marks and patterns on the ceramic surface. Horsehair has become particularly close to her heart.
When applied to a heated ceramic surface, it burns and leaves distinctive organic lines. Other works rely on smoke to produce their appearance, while some incorporate copper that is heated to create changing colours and effects.
Huda also experiments with naked Raku and deliberately cracked surfaces, allowing smoke to enter the fissures and create unpredictable patterns. Some pieces are intentionally broken and reconstructed, turning what might ordinarily be considered damage into part of the artwork itself.
An art that cannot be rushed
There is another element central to Huda’s work: patience. A single piece can take at least a month to complete because the clay must fully dry before firing. There are few shortcuts. If a ceramic piece enters the kiln while moisture remains inside, Huda explains, it can explode rather than simply crack, potentially destroying other pieces around it.
Unlike many ceramic artists, Huda prefers hand-building to relying on a pottery wheel. For her, irregularity and complexity are part of creativity. Huda even built the Raku kiln she works with at home, adapting available materials and insulating the structure for firing.
The process is intensely physical and largely manual. And Raku involves an element that demands particular confidence: fire.
Pieces experience extreme changes in temperature as they move from the kiln into the reduction process. Flames can rise dramatically, making Raku as much a performance of fire and transformation as a ceramic technique.
An Emirati story inside the clay
Look beyond the dramatic smoke marks, copper colours and scorched horsehair lines and another layer becomes visible: home. Huda connects her work with memories of traditional Emirati life and natural materials associated with the region. She remembers clay structures from her childhood surroundings and wants contemporary ceramics to carry something of the knowledge of earlier generations.
She does not, however, want merely to reproduce the past. Her ambition is to take its memories, skills and materials and reinterpret them through contemporary ceramic art. Her experimentation continues beyond conventional ceramics. Huda believes different forms of art are connected and imagines incorporating threads, buttons and other materials into future pieces.
“I cannot stop,” she said. “I believe all the arts are connected.”
Readers can check Huda’s work on her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/huda_ceramicart
Inspiring another Emirati generation
Perhaps one of the clearest indications of Raku’s ability to capture attention came from Huda’s own family. She recalls that her daughters were once less enthusiastic about conventional ceramics. Then their mother discovered Raku. Suddenly there was fire, smoke, risk and transformation. They began paying attention.
For Huda, that reaction revealed an opportunity. The visual drama of Raku could help introduce a younger generation to ceramics and handmade art. In a world accustomed to instant results, the process offers something radically different: earth shaped by hand, weeks of patience and finally an encounter with intense heat, fire and smoke.
As the first Emirati Raku artist, as she describes herself, Huda hopes that curiosity can become a bridge between generations and encourage others to discover what can be created when heritage and experimentation meet.
Recently, Huda Alrais showcased her ceramic artwork at Home Centre as part of “Made By Her”, an initiative marking Emirati Women’s Day and celebrating the creativity, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit of Emirati women. The initiative gives women-led businesses in the UAE greater visibility by providing a platform for selected entrepreneurs to present their work, stories and creative journeys.
Siddarth Sivaprakash, head of marketing at Home Centre, said “Made By Her” was designed to spotlight and promote Emirati women entrepreneurs. As part of the initiative, a curated group of women entrepreneurs is being featured across Home Centre’s in-store and online platforms, allowing their work to reach a wider audience. The initiative is purely promotional and celebratory, with the featured products displayed to highlight the entrepreneurs and their achievements rather than being offered for sale through Home Centre.
Impact to expect
Huda Alrais’ journey demonstrates how personal adversity can evolve into creative purpose. Her work introduces an unusual ceramic practice into conversations around Emirati heritage while offering younger generations another way to engage with handmade art, traditional materials and cultural memory.
